question 13: Insertion of gills onto stem


The insertion of gills describes the way gills stick to the stem. There are several type of such insertions (some of them are grouped together below to simplify). The gills can then be:


In order to make sure what the type of gill insertion is for a given species, one has to closely look at the precise location where gills and stem meet (magnifying glasses might help for this). One can also make a vertical cross-cut at the middle of the mushroom to check the type of gill insertion.

Examples:
           
We can see that the vertical edge of the gills does not touch the stem in this example, the gills are therefore free. Select "free or adnexed" in this case     The gills are here almost free, but just after narrowing, close to touching the stem, they go down vertically along it once in contact with it ("decurrent tooth"), select then "sinuate, emarginate, adnate only through decurrent tooth" in this case     In this example, the gills touch the stem on their full height, select then "adnate, ascendant" in this case     The gills here descend from the cap down the stem, on a long portion of it. The gills are therefore decurrent. Select then "decurrent or sub-decurrent" in this case

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